The Culture of Womanhood

Curriculum Links: Gr. 10: History

Essential Question: How do everyday objects speak and what do they tell us?

Workshop Description:

This activity asks students “What do our possessions tell us about who we were and how we lived?” Students will explore how industrialization was the impetus for change in the “culture of womanhood.” Focusing on the changes in women’s clothing styles between 1910 and 1920, students explore how W.W.1 changed attitudes about the role of women.

Hidden in Plain Sight

Curriculum Links: Gr. 8: History, Geography

Essential Question: How was our town shaped by its main economic activity?

Workshop Description:

This activity asks students to draw conclusions from photographic evidence that they collect. In small groups, supervised by an adult, students will walk down Mill Street, along Water Street, along Church Street to High Street, and along the “Riverwalk” back to the Museum, looking for and photographing evidence of what life was like in Almonte during the last part of 19th and early 20th centuries.

Made by Machine

Curriculum Links: Gr. 8: Science and Technology, History, Geography

Essential Question: How was the textile process mechanized?

Workshop Description:

In groups, students locate the components of simple machines, take photographs, use museum resources for research, and then explain to the group how a specific textile manufacturing process (carding, spinning, weaving, etc.) was mechanized in the Rosamond Mill.

Water Power

Curriculum Links: Gr. 8: Science and Technology, History

Essential Question: How was water power used to mechanize the textile industry in Canada in the mid-19th century?

Workshop Description:

In groups, students use a kit to follow a guided inquiry into how water power was used to drive the process of manufacturing textiles at the Rosamond Mill.

The Power of Power

Curriculum Links: Gr. 8: History, Geography

Essential Question: How powerful is power?

Workshop Description:

In groups, students will determine whether or not museum documents are a primary, secondary, or tertiary source of information. Students then explore the social, economic, and environmental impacts of mechanizing the textile process using primary and secondary source documents.